BELFAST, Northern Ireland - "Crannlach means branch,
like the branch growing on a tree," explained Tina Sherlock
about the name she and other young members of Sinn Fein
have chosen for their newly formed youth organization.

With their past experience of street demonstrations and
electoral work, youth in Belfast, Derry, and Tyrone see the
need for an organization to educate themselves in politics
and the social issues arising from the situation in
Northern Ireland. They also want to develop discussions
with the youth organizations of other political parties in
Ireland.

Two issues facing young people in Northern Ireland
dominated our discussion - unemployment and sex education.
Statistics issued by the Fair Employment Commission (FEC)
show that if you are Catholic in Northern Ireland you are
two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than if
you are a Protestant. Established by the British government
to tackle discrimination in employment, the FEC has proved
inadequate to take on institutionalized discrimination. In
fact, cases of discrimination have been taken out against
the FEC itself.

In spite of a sharp rise in the number of teenage
pregnancies, there is inadequate sex education in schools.
Discussion on sexual questions, on abortion, or on
contraception is taboo. Even today there are young women
who are too frightened or too ashamed to admit to being
pregnant.

In this city, the Brook Clinic, giving advice on
contraception, has been picketed by forces linked with both
the Catholic and Protestant churches. Tina spoke of a young
woman she was at school with who had her first baby at 12
years, her second at 14 years, and was dead of a brain
tumor by 16 years. This is clearly an issue of concern to
all young people. "But," Tina said, "in a state [like
Northern Ireland] founded on inequality, you have to get
rid of that state to get rid of inequality."

Tina was interested to hear about a youth brigade to
Cuba organized by the Union of Young Communists in Cuba
last August, which this reporter took part in. We talked
about the way in which young people in Cuba participate
directly in the social and economic life of the country.

Seventy young people and others from 11 counties from
both the north and south of Ireland attended the West
Tyrone Sinn Fein Youth Conference October 21. Participants
discussed the role of youth in the republican movement and
a range of other political issues. The youth conference
received a statement from republican political prisoners in
Long Kesh prison.

Nathalie Camier, from Paris, France, participated in an
October 17-19 Militant sales and reporting trip to Belfast.